Vietnam Since The Fall Of Saigon

Ohio RIS Southeast Asia Series #56

by William J. Duiker

When North Vietnamese troops occupied Saigon at the end of April 1975, their leaders in Hanoi faced the future with pride and confidence. Almost fifteen years later, the euphoria has given way to sober realism. Since the end of the war, the Communist regime has faced an almost uninterrupted series of difficulties including sluggish economic growth at home and a costly occupation of neighboring Cambodia.In this third and updated edition of a study which was originally published in 1980, William J. Duiker treats the fifteen years since the Communist takeover and attempts to reach a balanced appraisal of current conditions in Vietnam and their ultimate causes. Some of Hanoi’s problems, he concludes, are self–inflicted while others stem from the historically deep political and cultural chasm dividing North and South. Duiker’s insights and assessments will also be of particular interest to those concerned with American foreign policy and major issues in contemporary world politics.

77 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

William J. Duiker is a former United States Foreign Service officer and Professor of History at Penn State University. His area of expertise is East Asia; while in the Foreign Service he spent several years in Vietnam, where an injury left him with partial hearing in one ear. Duiker is the author of Ho Chi Minh: A Life, published in 2000, which was the first comprehensive biography of Ho Chi Minh using sources from Vietnam. He recently retired from teaching.